The ‘Condescending Corporate what?’ I hear you ask.
Allow…
The ‘Condescending Corporate what?’ I hear you ask.
Allow me to explain. ‘Condescending Corporate Brand Page‘ is a Facebook page that calls-out companies that, on occasion, have committed a big social media faux-pas.
Take a look at their ‘Description’ and you’ll instantly be greeted with slick sarcasm of the admin:
“We’re a big Corporate Brand® using Facebook. So look out for us asking you to like and share our stuff in a faintly embarrassing and awkward way.”
Companies that have fallen-victim to the the pages’ razor-sharp tongue include Kia UK, Persil, and unsurprisingly, ‘that’ tweet which landed Uber Sydney in hot water last month during the ‘Sydney Siege’.
Scared yet?
Here’s what we know…
It’s not just enough to having a social media presence anymore – fans are looking for content that is practical, helpful, and benefits them in one way or another.
Posts such as ‘Friday at last!’ can be taken as unintentionally patronising, and if you can’t relate that picture of a cute cat to your products or services then fans will hit the ‘unlike’ button faster than you can say ‘but we thought you’d like it!’.
According to one Hubspot report, Facebook leads social media customer sources, with 52% of all marketers sourcing a lead from Facebook in 2013 and 74% saying Facebook is important to their lead generation strategies, making it even more important to produce content that engages, entertains and delights fans.
Here are three quick ideas on how to keep your social media posting relevant (and away from CBP!)
1) Treat your Facebook page like a magazine
Flick through any magazine and you’ll find an array of ‘How-to’s’, ‘Top Tens’ and generally content that is engaging, relevant and useful to its reader and overall target audience.
Put your company’s industry in the middle of a spider diagram and list off all of the things that can be inadvertently related to it. Your page publicising a wedding venue? List off subjects such as room arrangement, flower positioning, theme creation, ‘The best DIY wedding venue hacks’ and then make these relevant to your venue to give you a spectrum of ideas for Social Media postings.
2) Turn your page into a community (and have some fun!)
Your fans decided that they liked your product so much that they deciding that they wanted to engage with you further – hooray! Now to turn them into brand ambassadors.
As mentioned above, fans want content that is going to make an impact on their everyday life. Why not ask for their favourite tips related to something that is relevant to your product?
Going back to the wedding venue example, asking questions such as ‘What are the best colour themes for a Summer wedding?’ Post a picture from your special day below to inspire fellow brides-to-be!’ will engage fans and bring back happy memories of their big day.
However, try to avoid the phrase ‘We want to know…’, fans will see straight through this and will instantly question your motives.
3) Lastly, follow the rule of three W’s…
Before posting ANYTHING on social media, you should be able to confidently answer these three questions:
- WHY will this posting be useful fans?
- WILL this cause a potential backlash?
- WHAT is the desired result?
By answering these three questions, you will be able to keep social content engaging, interesting and in line with company guidelines.
Now go forth, and spread the knowledge of this Facebook page!
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Thanks for reading! For lots more ideas on social media marketing, do follow me on Twitter: @GemmaNash25. Alternatively, please feel free to visit my website.
